Dismantle
by piper maru duchovny
Summary: Sometimes to fix the problem you have to dismantle the whole thing and rebuild. Maddison - with some minor Calzona - AU after s7.


**I haven't written Grey's Anatomy fanfic in about six years but I've just recently marathoned the entire series and felt the desperate need to write some Maddison! The first chapter of this does take place in the PPP verse but I amplified the emotional abuse that Sam has been inflicting on Addison to a more physical nature. Please don't read if that is going to bother you in any way. Also, I haven't watched a lot of PPP because I don't find it as good as GA. Alright, I think I have explained all you need to know. Reviews are appreciated (as well as constructive criticism). Thank you for reading!**

**Dedicated to Rachael (hopelesslylazy/pheobecolefan) for being the Addison to my Callie, for fangirling with me over Maddison/Calzona/Addizona, and for all the anti-Sam talks. Love you!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy or Private Practice and have no intentions of earning a profit from this fic. Anything recognizable is not mine.**

He slammed to a stop in the middle of his step as he caught sight of them through the window of her office; dark hands encased her perfect porcelain skin as his former friend shook her violently. Anger surged through his veins as he saw Addison pleading for Sam to let her go. Thoughts of surprising and whisking her away to an early dinner suddenly vanished as his body went into motion without consulting his brain.

He threw the door open with an unprecedented rage as his multimillion dollar hands ripped the man from her body and his fist collided against Sam Bennett's jaw without so much as a word. Blind rage overtook his ability to think as he threw all his weight into the punch. He wanted to kill him; no one, _no one_, touched his Addison like that.

"Mark," Addison's voice lured him from his violence like a siren luring a ship to the shore, "Mark, stop! Let him go!"

He stopped punching Sam just long enough to grab him by his shirt and toss him out of her office, locking the door behind him, "What the hell, Addison?"

Her jaw was slacked as she wrapped her arms protectively across her midsection, "Shouldn't I be asking you that? You come out of nowhere and start beating the shit out of Sam and you're 'What the hell, Addison'-ing me?"

"I was visiting Sloan and decided to drop in to take you out to dinner," he looked down at his hands that were bruising nicely, "I get here and he's got his hands on you, shaking you like you're some kind of damn snow globe. Like hell I was just gonna stand there and watch you get hurt."

"It was my fault, Mark," she ran her hand through her hair as she paced in front of him, "I pushed him too hard. I made him mad. It was my fault."

" Jesus fucking Christ, Addison, don't you hear yourself?" He slammed his hand down on her desk and she jumped, "You sound like a battered woman. I'm willing to bet this ain't the first time he's had his hands on you like that," he didn't wait for her to answer him, "He shook you! He grabbed your arms hard enough to leave bruises! That's not okay, that is _never _okay! When the hell did you stop respecting yourself enough to stand up to him? What has he done to you, where is _my_ Addison?"

"I'm not your Addison anymore, Mark!" Her words pierced him like a knife to the heart.

"Addison..."

"No," Addison swallowed hard before powering through, "you don't get to come in here and save me! I'm not yours to save anymore. I'm not the same Addison anymore, that doesn't mean you have to fix me. I don't need a white knight."

"Then be your own white knight," Mark jammed his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching out for her, "don't be his rag doll. You might not be my Addison and I might not have a right to save you but you are still Addison Adrienne Forbes-Montgomery. Remember that."

He pushed away from her desk and was halfway to the door when she called out to him, "You should let me look at your hand before you go."

"I'm fine," he reassured her with the flexing of his fingers, "if it will make you feel better, I'll have Callie check it when I get home."

She bit her lip and nodded, "When you are you going?"

"Tomorrow night," he explained, "I'm staying at the Wilshire, room 154 tonight. I'll be there if you want to talk."

–

Amelia was walking in as he was walking out. Her arms were around his neck and he was lifting her clean off the ground before he had a chance to blink. The hug felt good, like someone out there still gave a damn, "Hey Stranger!"

"Hey Amy," he smiled and tugged playfully at her hair when she stepped back.

"What the hell happened to your hand," her eyebrows shot up as she caught his wrist, pulling his hand closer to take a look, "can you move your fingers?"

"I might have broke Sam."

She pressed carefully on his metacarpals, "I'm sorry, you broke who?"

"Sam," Mark shrugged, "I'm not sure if he's broke. I might have just bruised his jaw pretty good."

"And why did you decide to break Sam?"

"Because he was hurting Addison!" He was getting angry again.

"Sam," Amelia asked with an eyebrow raise, "Sam Bennett, the guy who has to use his inhaler when he talks too fast was hurting Addie?"

"He was shaking her, Amelia," he ran his healthy hand through his hair, "she's got bruises on her arms he had such a tight grip on her. I mean... I just... It's Addison."

"You never could think clearly when it came to Addison Montgomery," she gave him a small smile as she lead him over to a bench on the sidewalk, "I hope you broke him good though because, otherwise, I'm gonna have to finish the job."

"If Addison hadn't been screaming at me, I probably would have killed him."

"Glad you didn't," she smirked softly, "you wouldn't look as hot in a jumpsuit."

"Yeah, plus I think Callie would kill me if Sofia had to visit me in prison."

"That's right," she let his hand go when she was satisfied that he hadn't done any permanent damage, "you're a daddy now. How is the miracle child?"

"Pretty damn perfect," he pulled his phone from his pocket to show her a picture, "she's out of the NICU now and at home. She's pretty much mastered rolling over, now we're working on purposeful smiles."

"Look at you," Amelia reached out and pinched his cheek playfully, "all proud papa!"

"Yeah," Mark smiled and locked his phone before putting it back in his pocket, "she makes it easy though and, I think, Callie, Arizona and I have finally got this co-parenting thing down."

"Really, no more baby mama's lesbian lover drama?"

"Actually, it's baby mama's wife now and we're good. Thanks for asking."

"Any time," she glanced at her watch before sighing, "I need to get in there and check on Addie before my surgery. Send me some baby pictures soon, okay? And tell that idiot brother of mine to call me."

"I will," he stood with her and dropped a kiss to her forehead, "take care of yourself, Amy-girl."

"I will," she promised and kissed his cheek. She was halfway to the door of the office when she turned to call after him, "Hey, Mark! Addison might not have thought you'd make a good father but I always knew you would you'd be fantastic at it. You were the only one who could ever get through to me when everything was out of control."

"You only listened to me 'cause I'm hot," he called back.

She tossed her head back and laughed before slipping into the air conditioned building. He laughed at her retreating form before making his way to his rental car.

–

The cool air inside the building wrapped deliciously around Amelia Shepherd's body as she passed through the waiting room. Sam was sitting in a waiting room chair while Cooper stitched a cut on his cheek and Pete lectured him about how to treat a lady. Amelia passed him buy with a roll of her eyes and a cuff to the back of his head, "You're lucky I wasn't here, Sam Bennett, I would have let him kill you."

Any response fell on deaf ears as she reached Addison's office; Violet sat on one side of the sobbing woman and Charlotte on the other. She caught their attention and nodded her head toward the waiting room, "Go, work, I got this."

The elder women squeezed Addison's shoulders before slipping around Amelia and out of the room. She dropped her bag in the chair across from the desk and her jacket on top of that before moving to sit beside the woman she considered to be a sister. One arm around Addison's shoulders, she pulled the redhead closer and wrapped herself protectively around her, "I've got you, Addie. Let me be the strong one."

"I just... I want..." sobs interrupted her rudely, "I want to be happy. I am so damn tired of pretending but I thought if I could pretend long enough that eventually it would be real. Sam's a good guy, he really is. I just... I push all the wrong buttons. I make him mad. It really was my fault."

"Addison," Amelia's voice was soft as the damage Sam had done became apparent, "I don't care if you kicked him in the balls, he had no right – at all – to touch you like that. He's been downright mean to you lately and if I had known that it got this far then I would have kicked his ass before Mark ever got a chance to."

"You saw Mark?"

"He was coming out on my way in. I checked his hand for any breaks, there wasn't any – miraculously," She promised as she played with Addison's hair, "I'm sorry you got hurt. I'm sorry for not seeing it."

"If I didn-"

"Addison, stop it," she caught both of Addison's hands in hers and forced her to look her in the eyes, "You did not make Sam hurt you and you most certainly did not deserve it. Pete's out there giving him hell right now and I'd be willing to bet that Cooper didn't bother with numbing medication before stitching that lac. If you were at fault then none of us would be on your side. We are all on your side."

"How did I get so messed up," Addison wiped at her tears, "Mark was right. I'm not Addison anymore. I never would have let this happen if I was acting like myself."

"You've been through a lot and the fact that you haven't had a complete breakdown is amazing," Amelia's hand cupped her cheek, "you are still Addison, the same ball-buster that you've always been. You're still in there. I see you."

"Thank you... Amelia, thank you."

"I'm not telling you anything you don't already know."

Addison wiped her running mascara on the back of her wrist before wetting her lips with the tip of her tongue, "I guess so. I should go. Check on Mark. Check that hand for myself."

"He still loves you, you know?"

She sighed, "Amelia, I can't..."

"I'm not saying that you should go jump his bones – though, you totally should – but I'm saying that he loves you and he'll wait forever for you."

–

When Addison managed to escape out the backdoor of the practice the sky had clouded over and a soft drizzle was falling. She glanced longingly at her car before deciding against it as she headed in the direction of Mark's hotel. The rain managed to chase away the cobwebs that were cluttering her brain as the rain matted her light auburn locks to her face and hid the tears she could no longer hold at bay.

She pulled anxiously as the cuffs of her sweater as she walked with her head down wondering when she had let herself become this person. Addison tried desperately to remember when she had let herself go and gave into the control Sam had exerted over her. She was Addison Adrienne Forbes-Montgomery and she didn't just sit back while her boyfriend abused her. That was not who she was.

But it was who she had become.

She kicked angrily at a stone in the middle of the sidewalk as she raked her hand through her tangled locks. Maybe it had been when Archer had gotten sick or when her mother had committed suicide. She'd probably never know for sure but she knew that it was ending today, that she couldn't let Sam control her any longer and that she would never let another man handle her like that ever again.

Before she was ready Mark's hotel room door was before her and she was raising her hand to knock. Addison hesitated momentarily before rapping her knuckles against the lacquered wood, "Mark?"

"Addison," Mark's voice was rough as he opened the door, "what are you doing here?"

Tears began to fall again as she wrapped her arms around her soaked body and looked up at him, "I don't know who I am anymore."

His arms wrapped around her tightly and his chin came to rest on the top of her head, "I know you," he promised and pulled her into the room, "I know who you are, Addison."

"I'm.. I don't know."

She looked so tiny standing before him drenched to the bone. He let go of her just long enough to grab a towel from the bathroom and extra clothes from his suitcase, "Let's start with getting you dried off, okay? You're gonna catch pneumonia at this rate."

She nodded but didn't move.

With a soft sigh, he took the towel and began the same act he had almost nine years before. Slowly, he toweled the water from her hair until it was barely damp. Then he lifted the shirt that clung to her body and, with a sense of propriety that he didn't know he had, he dried her upper body before pulling his Yankees hoodie over her head and tugging playfully on the strings before moving to her slacks. Her pants were barely damp but he removed them for her and dried her ankles before helping her step into the pair of gray sweats and pulling the drawstring as tight as he could so they wouldn't fall off. He smiled up at her, "There."

"Thanks," she mumbled and wrapped her arms protectively around herself again.

"C'mere," he opened his arms to her and she stepped into his embrace. The smell that was so unmistakably Mark filled her lungs and calmed her senses as his heartbeat thrummed like a metronome beneath her cheek.

"Mark," she pulled back long enough to look him in the eyes, "thank you. Really. Thank you for saving me."

"You saved yourself," Mark promised, "I just did the punching for you because babies need your hands."

"My hands thank you," she smiled for the first time as she pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw.

"Anytime," he pulled her back into his arms and kissed her head.

She let herself sink into his arms but, unlike with so many other men, she found herself instead of losing another piece.


End file.
